TONIGHT on @AC360, #KarenKlein ” Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right” on Threats Made Against Students
Tonight on AC360°, Anderson Cooper talked to Karen Klein following the outpour of support, students’ apologies and the news that the students have been receiving death threats.
Klein, a 68 year-old bus monitor who was bombarded with profane language, insults and threats by the students on her bus.
Below are select sound bites from tonight’s interview.
Full interview airs tonight on Anderson Cooper 360° at 8 and 10pm ET on CNN.
Anderson Cooper: The threats that are being made against these children by people calling their homes… would you tell people to stop doing that? You don’t want people to threaten these children, do you?
Karen Klein: No, no. I don’t want them to be harassed either, you know. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And poor police, they had double duty on yesterday because of this. I thought oh boy… there go my taxes! No, I’m just kidding. Oh my god, if I don’t laugh, then I would cry. But I haven’t done that yet, so. 18:16:00
AC: The teens are going to be punished apparently through the school… is that something you think is appropriate… that the school will handle this?
KK: Well, I told them I didn’t want to press charges. I mean I can’t see kids in the seventh grade having to do that. It’s not like they killed somebody, you know, I mean. It’s serious, they didn’t rob a bank. They just harassed a monitor. So, I don’t know, yes, they need to be punished but not with the courts.
AC: Yesterday, when we talked you said the money that has been raised… now more than half a million dollars sounded too good to be true and you didn’t believe you would actually get it. We talked to a spokesperson for the fund raising website, and they say they guarantee that you will get the money. Do you believe that now?
KK: It’s still hard for me to fathom. I need to talk to somebody about how much tax I have to pay. That’s a lot of money… that’s a lot of money, more than I’ve had. Even half of that would be more than I’ve ever seen. But I want to make sure that I take care of this right. I don’t want to be broke like people who win the lottery. It’s not like that, you know? I’ve gotten some gift cards in the mail. And a check and people… I just got a whole bunch of mail today with nice notes inside. And letters from kids, you know, like 14 or 15 year olds. It’s really neat. I’ve been so impressed.